Texas A&M walked out of Jordan-Hare Stadium for the third straight time with a victory due to being a squad that trusted its quarterback who had already proven in big games he could get the job done.

Trevor Knight led No. 20 Texas A&M to a 29-16 victory after dominating the final three quarters with offensive precision of a team that had already won a big game this season. And that was because the Aggies (3-0) had done so after dispatching a previously ranked UCLA team in the opening weekend.

"There were all kinds of questions coming into this game about who we were going to be and what our identity was," Knight said. "We just answered that by coming on the road against one of the nation's better defenses, played very well and got a huge win."

Knight finished the evening 20 of 40 for 247 yards and a touchdown as he used matchup advantages with his potential all-conference wide receivers against Auburn’s active but smaller defensive backs.

Knight, an Oklahoma transfer who lost his starting job to Baker Mayfield but instantly revived an A&M offense with his arrival, was effective with the check-downs, efficient with the intermediate routes and showed perfect touch when asked to execute the deep throws.

Throughout the week, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn stressed Knight’s ability to run would be a factor and the 6-foot-1 signal caller was able to get out on the perimeter for clean pocket looks at simple pitch-and-catch plays.

When Auburn finally backed off its defense to protect the pass, Texas A&M (3-0, 1-0 in SEC) sealed the victory with a 89-yard touchdown run by Trayveon Williams to make it 29-10 late in the fourth quarter. The Aggies ran up 478 total yards, which was the first time since Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele was hired that an opponent reached the 400-yard mark.

Auburn (1-2, 0-1 in SEC), a program which hasn’t defeated a Power 5 conference program at home since a 2014 win over South Carolina, never trusted Sean White to challenge the A&M defense vertically down the field. Auburn attempted to dink and dunk the football down the field but ran into problems when its overmatched offensive line would eventually get to the 6-foot signal caller.

"We're a work in progress," Malzahn said when describing his offense. "We were inconsistent to say the least. We simply didn't get it done."

Not one single Auburn receiver had a catch longer than 18 yards and the Tigers averaged just 4.65 yards per pass attempt. Auburn, which came into Saturday night's contest tied for the Southeastern Conference lead with 14 plays over 20 yards, had its first four drives of the second half end with a punt. Auburn's average distance on third down was 9.1 yards Saturday night leading to a conversion rate of just 35.6 percent.

"It's frustrating when the defense is going out there and playing lights out and we aren't capitalizing on those chances to score," Auburn receiver Ryan Davis said. "We have to start playing for them."

After starting the game 6 of 6 for 62 yards in the opening quarter, White would only complete 12 of his final 21 throws for 64 yards and would even be replaced in a critical four-quarter drive and was benched the final six minutes of the contest in favor of backup John Franklin III.

After the game, Malzahn responded to a question about whether White felt comfortable by laying blame on the offensive line after he said "when he had time". White was pressured six times and sacked four times against a Texas A&M defense that forced 13 tackles for loss. Malzahn said after his 10th loss in the last 12 SEC games that the deep ball in the pass game was called but "(Sean) didn't get enough time" referencing the four sacks.

"It wasn't all Sean," Malzahn said in a frustrated tone. "There was stuff around him that wasn't good. Sean did some good things."

Franklin totaled 84 yards in the final two drives (47 rushing, 37 passing) but his inability to execute the passing element of the playbook was more than obvious.

After the loss, Malzahn refused to commit to a starting quarterback going forward but only said he made the late quarterback change "to give the offense a spark" but left the possibility open for another quarterback controversy before the end of the season's first month.

Neither Auburn quarterback was made available to the media after Saturday's loss. This is the second time in three games this season where none of the quarterbacks were made available after a defeat.

The loss is the sixth consecutive Southeastern Conference home defeat for Auburn, which is the longest streak in program history and Malzahn’s offense hasn’t reached the 20-point mark in six straight games against a Power 5 conference opponent.

The Tigers fourth-year coach will face arguably the biggest game of his coaching career as they host LSU (2-1, 1-0 in SEC) and Auburn will try to salvage what’s left of his opening month homestand in a 5 p.m. kickoff Saturday.